Born in St Kitts and educated at Totteridge Park Grammar School. He matriculated at the University of London, and received his professional training at St Mary’s Hospital, where he was appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy and then House Surgeon. He gained the Sibson Clinical Prize in his student days (

The third son of Ebenezer Pye Smith (qv). He was born in London in 1848, studied at Guy's Hospital, and in 1876 settled in general practice at 45 Glossop Road, Sheffield. In 1877 he was elected Surgeon to the Public Hospital and Dispensary, which subsequently became the Sheffield Royal Hospital. The